Oh Deer! BikeMaps.org reporting.

[Mikael]

Hi All,
Karen Laberee, the Executive Director at BikeMaps.org asked me to post this.
___draft from Karen below_____
Deer!
Have you had an incident or close call on your bike with a deer? Please consider reporting it on BikeMaps.org. BikeMaps.org is a website and mobile app that is used for collecting cycling incident data for research purposes. Created to capture missing cycling safety data, BikeMaps.org allows cyclists to report collisions (with anything!), falls, near misses, and hazards.
Anecdotally, we have heard about many incidents involving cyclists with deer in the Capital Region. Yet these types of incidents were not being tracked by any agency and so it’s difficult to gauge how much of an issue it is. We have started to work actively with the Vancouver Island Health Authority on this but need help from the region’s cyclists.
If you’ve had collision, fall, or near miss with deer in the last two years, please report it directly on BikeMaps.org.
• Reporting is anonymous.
• You do not need to login or create an account to report an incident. (Creating an account allows you to keep track of incidents as they are reported in a geographical area defined by you.)
• To report on the website, click on the teardrop-shaped pin on the left-hand side of the screen and drop it down onto the map where the incident occurred. This will activate the reporting form.
• Fill out the form with as much information as you can. It’s particularly important to fill out the “detailed description”. Filling out a report should only take 2-3 minutes.
• Even reporting close calls (as a near miss) will enable us to identify geographic areas that may be hotspots.
• Email us at info@bikemaps.org if you have any problems, questions, or suggestions.
If your incident was longer than two years ago, please contact us at info@bikemaps.org for guidance

____draft from Karen above____
I have posted a few incidents and accidents myself. While posting is anonymous they do ask for some personal details such as gender, birth year and month. These seem relatively innocuous to me and their justification is: “The goal of BikeMaps.org is to gather more comprehensive data to better assess cycling safety and risk. Providing personal details will allow us to more accurately fill in these data gaps.”
Cheers,
Mikael